Revolutionary unions and French labor: The rebels behind the cause; or, Why did revolutionary syndicalism fail?

Rejecting the conclusions reached by author Peter Stearns that French revolutionary syndicalism never gained worker support and American economists John R. Commons and Selig Perlman that conservative unionism was the only unionism workers would accept, the author provides statistical evidence disproving both. Rather, the author suggests that the failure of the CGT to create cross-class alliances contributed to its isolation and eventually, the decline of revolutionary syndicalism. We do not agree with some of the article, but reproduce for useful information.

Originally appeared in French Historical Studies, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Spring, 1997)

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Comments

Juan Conatz

Aug 29 2012 22:04

The conclusion of this is kinda wack, but I'm assuming the authors aren't radicals. In any case, the bulk of the essay I think is a good argument against conservative claims against revolutionary unionism and they are backed up by statistics.

Barry Burke's account of the UK general strike of 1926 in the East London borough of Hackney.

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